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Message to Omar: Question judgment, not ‘allegiance,’ of opponents

Imagine if conservatives had attacked freshman congress member Ilhan Omar by questioning her loyalty to the United States and suggesting that she cared more about her Muslim faith or her Somali homeland than she did about America. Democrats, along with all right-thinking people, would have been outraged at the bigoted nature of such an assault.

But Omar herself has repeatedly slammed her pro-Israel colleagues on a similar — and similarly unacceptable — basis. Her most recent comments claim that Israel supporters “push for allegiance to a foreign country.”

This is no more appropriate than prior slanders against Catholic Americans for “allegiance” to the Vatican over loyalty to America, or potential claims against Omar and her Muslim colleagues for giving devotion to Islam above the Constitution.

It’s always okay to challenge the judgment of Jewish or Christian supporters of Israel. But it’s never appropriate to question their patriotism.